Lives of Scripture

When Zechariah prophesied to the returned exiles rebuilding Jerusalem, the LORD directed him to a specific, immediate task: "Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day and enter the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah" (Zechariah 6:10). Jedaiah was one of these three named returnees whose silver and gold Zechariah was told to collect and use to make an elaborate crown (6:11). Rather than crowning a king, Zechariah placed the crown on the head of Joshua the high priest, and announced a prophecy: "Behold, a man whose name is Branch... it is He who will build the temple of the LORD... and He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices" (6:12-13) -- a Messianic sign pointing forward to one who would unite the offices of priest and king. The crown was afterward to be kept in the temple "as a memorial" for Jedaiah and his companions, and Zechariah adds that people "who are far off will come and build the temple of the LORD" as confirmation of the prophecy's truth (6:14-15). Jedaiah's contribution was small -- silver and gold handed over for a single symbolic object -- but Scripture ties his name permanently to one of the Old Testament's clearest prophetic pictures of the coming Messiah.